PenguinLife

Check for special prices online with Hilton, Double Tree, etc. for the dates in question, just about all of the major name brand downtown hotels near Harrah's casino are good, just their usual price is around $200 per night. Last year I managed to get a deal at the Double Tree across from Harah's casino (Hilton property, nice, but not much on extra amenities, dining, etc) for $88 per night.

The one time we used lighthouse it was about a 10 minute wait for the shuttle to depart, we usually use Galveston Parkn cruise and just walk across the street to the cruise terminal.

I would think taxi to hotel it is probably around 10 blocks or so, but that is a ways with luggage. Walk to the cruise terminal from the hotel through the river walk outlet mall, you can get all the way there basically indoors. As to places to eat check out Mulates http://www.mulates.com/ if you want real cajun food, it is just across from the cruise terminal (3 blocks or so directly behind the Hilton riverside). They serve authentic cajun food, one of a few places in New Orleans that does, most new orleans food is creole, or some creole / cajun mash up, not actual cajun. Creole and Cajun are NOT the same, although both have a number of dishes with the same names the way they are seasoned is very different. If you want to know the difference ask google, there are a lot of ways to describe it, one common example is most creole food is tomato based and most cajun food is not. (creole gumbo has tomatoes, cajun gumbo does not), also I think of creole as having a sharper bite to the seasoning, and cajun more of a bold flavor profile.

It can vary considerably, we have taken several cruises out of Houston and Galveston Nov - Feb., in fact just made it home from one yesterday. Boarded on Dec 13 just as a cold front passed through Houston (70 degrees in Houston at 8 am last Sunday morning and was down to 50 and dropping by noon). It will vary, but as a rule of thumb the first and last sea days out of Houston will be in the upper 50- mid 60's, or warmer if the temperature in Houston is in the 30-40's, and proportionately warmer if it is warmer on land.

The captain just reported number in isolation up to 35, but we did have rough seas last night so some may be seasickness.

Gastro issues continue onboard, the daily captains report a few hours ago cited 24 passengers being isolated in their cabin, this number has been consistent since I started this thread, each day it seems about 10 are released from in cabin isolation and about 10 more are added. Crew continues with the intense cleaning, and full service for all items in buffet, as well as no rolls or butter left on the table in the MDR, etc.

Captain has reported a decline in cases reported today onboard.

No new announcements here onboard, although there have been some hand outs by our door about what to do, buffet's are full service only and even in the MDR's there is no bread or butter on tables instead they are handed out with tongs. Honestly though I have seen no visible step up on cleaning. I have seen a few people coughing or sneezing, but that may just be me being more alert to it.

Ike

It is about 11:00 am onboard the Caribbean Princess second sea day since departing Houston on Sunday, so far this cruise seemed to be going well, except for some bad weather around departure, until the morning announcement by the captain stating that they have seen an increase in reportedgastro-intestional isssues and are suspecting Norovirus. The crew is starting an intense ships cleaning and the captain urged everyone to wash hands with soap and water as well as use the handsanitizer around the ship, if anyone has symptoms they should return to their cabin and call 911.

Ike

We are in the terminal now boarding today, arrived at port at 11 am, 15 minutes to drop off and park, no line at security, but 1 hour slow line at check in, now in seating waiting to board, currently boarding special needs, already boarded elite and preferred.. About half the seats are empty, but check in is backed up to security, don't know how much security is backed up.

We are sailing out on Caribbean Princess in the morning, the weather forecast is a big reason we chose to drive over and spend the night near the port instead of driving all the way from home in the morning (150 miles). We are staying at the Holiday Inn Express in La Porte (7 miles from the cruise terminal), we had club points that were expiring in a couple of months so used them for a "free" night, overall it is a nice Holiday Express, very comfortable firm bed, I am surprised how empty it is though, after 10 pm and there are only about 9 or 10 cars in the parking lot, maybe because its cash price is $139 per night vs the neigboring motels in the $90 range. So far no real rain since we arrived around 5:30 pm, just some light mist, we ate dinner at the 101 Grill in downtown La Porte which is about half a mile off the main highway. Nice upscale casual dining, menu was a mix of contemporary Italian, seafood and steaks, prices were reasonable, particularly their 3 courses for $21 options. I have paid 2 - 3 times as much for lesser food.

I don't know the exact hours of operation for Galveston Park n Cruise, but it is not a 24 hour operation, and is a gated lot that is very long and narrow and consists of a number of small older mostly brick warehouse type buildings along with the small outdoor parking lots between each. So access particularly to indoor parking will often depend on people from the previous cruise leaving first as the cars tend to be packed in like sardines (packing in cars from 4 and 5 day cruises so they are blocking in cars from longer cruises). In the past they have been very good with email questions I have sent, so hopefully will get back with you soon. I suspect they may let you park in their outdoor area earlier then move your car to an indoor space before you board your ship.

When we were on Emerald last year the wifi in our cabin was marginal at best, I could get connection in certain parts of the cabin with my notebook computer (like at the foot of the bed, or if the cabin door was open), and my wife had even more trouble with her Kindle Fire tablet.

What they said, it is best to not take Harborside drive as it backs up near the cruise terminal with everyone trying to make a left into the luggage and passenger drop off, instead take Broadway / Hwy 87 overshoot the terminal by few blocks, then approach the terminal on Harborside Drive going west so you have a right turn into the drop off. I would suggest 14th street as it has a light at the intersection with Harborside and no cross traffic coming out like 20th street has, also 20th does not go all the way through to Broadway as you would have to zig zag around a closed off bock of the street.

For me it comes down to one thing, how much would I pay for a comparable meal near home. Lets assume that the MDR meal equates to a $25-$35 PP meal at a casual dining restaurant, possibly a bit more counting appetizer and dessert. That puts this new prime dining rate equal to about $85 PP on shore, and the simple fact is I can find a LOT of very good food complete with nicely dressed wait staff and nice dining atmosphere for under $85 PP near home, of course I do live in south Louisiana, and we are sort of known for good food.

It is a nice hotel, and is directly connected to the cruise terminal by way of the Riverwalk Mall (now an outlet mall)

The cruise terminal is in the Warehouse District / Convention center area, but is very close to the edge of the Downtown hotels so either of those would work. The French quarter is also fairly nearby but a longer walk, and certainly close enough to consider if you are taking a cab. Personally I would probably go with the Downtown hotels as they tend to be nicer on average than the ones you find in the warehouse district. This assumes you are flying in as all the downtown hotels only have valet pay by the day parking of around $20 per day or so, a few of the warehouse district accommodation do have self / free park.

There are several places to eat along that stretch of seawall blvd within 3-4 blocks anyway.

How much time do you have, what sort of food do you want, this is New Orleans you are talking about, as long as you stay out of the chain places and those that are designed to appeal to tourist that is a LOT of good food. Most is traditional style New Orleans Creole, New Orleans Creole / Cajun mashup, or some contemporary new twist on traditional New Orleans food. Note this should not be confused with Cajun food, it is very hard to find true Cajun food in New Orleans, Creole and Cajun are not the same, they each have a distinct flavor profile, Creole tend to be tomato based and the spices have a bit more bite, while Cajun mostly lacks Tomato (with a couple of exceptions) and spices tend to be more full bodied. If you have time I would suggest you try real cajun food for at least one of your meals, assuming you are going on a cruise, I would suggest Mulates for this http://www.mulates.com/ as they are located just a couple of blocks from the cruise terminal and provide real live cajun music on the weekends. For a look at the menu http://www.mulates.com/menu/Menu-2015.pdf If you are looking for something a little more modern New Orleans with a contemporary take on traditional dishes and is also within walking distance of the Cruise terminals (although a longer walk) and many of the downtown hotels, I would suggest Palace Cafe on Canal Steet http://www.palacecafe.com/ Just the thing for foodies looking for that less discovered spot, note service can be somewhat slow.

We are scheduled to sail out of Bayport in just under 2 weeks, our plan is to drive over the day before (we live about 150 miles away), spend the night at the Holday Inn Express in La Porte 10 miles from the cruise terminal, and check the web cams and online updates before checking out of our room and driving over to the port if fog is in the potential forecast. If it looks like it will be a fog free morning we may cancel the motel reservations and drive over the morning of the cruise, we have done much the same before in our cruises out of Bayport and Galveston. Out of our 6 previous cruises from these ports all Nov-Feb in the fog months, we have never had a departure or arrival delayed by more than 2-3 of hours due to fog and this strategy of waiting at the motel for updates has worked well in the past, as there is no sense getting to the terminal before the ship does. We simply set an alarm for when we would plan to check out and head to the ship, wake up check the port / ship cams if there is no ship there, hit the snooze button and check again in 20-30 minutes, repeat as needed.

2PBears beat me to the comment, although it is not just on Grand it is industry wide. As it stands now I can get better tasting food within walking distance of my house than most of the stuff served in the MDR's and at a price that is far less than the upcharge currently in discussion for the speciality dining. What the cruise lines and the passengers need to remember is these charges are an upcharge on top of what the passengers have already paid to get MDR quality level of food.

Heck, I can get free WiFi at my local grocery store, Kohls, McDonalds etc. There would have been plenty of places to log in to get updates.

Have you been to the Bayport terminal, it is in the middle of nowhere, the nearest McDonalds (or anything else) is probably 8-10 miles away.

Is this a "winter" thing in Texas for fog or an any time thing? Hopefully Mar/Apr will be better...

It is a winter thing mostly, but often extends into the first part of April, cold air meets the warmer water of Galveston bay and you get fog. This time is particularly bad due to a stalled cool front over the area, normally the fog on the bay will clear by mid morning causing only a couple of hours worth of delays.

While fog is common in Houston, the problem this time seems to be caused by a mostly stalled cool front over the Houston area, unfortunately the weather forecast calls for more of the same for the next 2-3 days, so if they don't make it in today, tomorrow may be a repeat of today.

A lot of these suggestions sound like the Vista class cruise ships used by HAL, Costa, Cunard, etc. So my suggestion would be save money on the custom design, buy "off the shelf" and add Princess styling and maybe some of those modern updates like USB chargers, etc.